


People Watching

by orphan_account



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-13
Updated: 2010-03-13
Packaged: 2017-10-07 23:05:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A couple of Persephone citizens observe the happenings at the Eavesdown docks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	People Watching

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 2010's [](http://community.livejournal.com/bigdamn_rewatch/profile)[**bigdamn_rewatch**](http://community.livejournal.com/bigdamn_rewatch/)

Back when Persephone was not much more than a hitching post, their father had set down roots near the Eavesdown docks. At the time, it had just been him along with his two teenage daughters, their mother having passed several years before. Now, more than 50 years later, the Mikhail Trading Company sprawled over a few city blocks and was made up of a hodgepodge of wooden buildings.

Jasmine and Simoene had both married and raised families here. In fact, Jasmine's son, Ahmed, ran the main business concerns these days, while Simoene's granddaughter had taken the reins of the luxury goods transactions. It seemed her idea was to cater more to the emerging fashion trends on some of the core worlds like Osiris. Those emerging fashion trends had to do with border world goods, although the sisters initially thought that was just silly, the account books didn't lie. It seemed that core world folks - having a few years between themselves and the war - thought that the rim worlds were all somehow exotic now, rather than being dens of untamed wildness.

Anyway, what that really lead to is the fact that Jasmine and Simoene no longer shouldered responsibilities for running any of the business matters. Although they remain flattered when their advice was sought out - it rarely was anymore.

Many years ago, they had claimed the back room on the top floor of the second building their father had built for their offices. At the time, there were no windows because it had backed up to a garbage dump, which is why their father had gotten the land so cheaply. Still, the space was their own. A place for them to retreat from husbands and children and relax in one of the chaise lounges or have tea with the mismatched tea set - all goods that had been slightly damaged or returned by higher class folks who had changed their mind. Over the years, they felt the room had a certain amount of comfort and class, even if nothing in it other than the sisters seemed to match.

As luck would have it -_ or as their father's influence would devise it _\- the dump was eventually filled in and packed with hard soil to expand the spaceport operations. Now, the back of the building looked over a bustling mass of activity and the ladies had installed a simple window once most of the stench was gone.

Some of the grandchildren had increased the festive look of the back of the three buildings that faced the spaceport with lights meant to draw out the name of MIKHAIL. The letters never really looked right and really just ended up being strings of incandescent bulbs. Then when Ahmed had taken over formally, the sisters packed up their desk and added a settee. They began to refer to the room as their salon, but that never really caught on and the family still referred to it as the ladies office.

Now they spent most mornings sipping tea - _and well, if it was sometimes spiked with just a dram or two of medicinal whiskey, who's to know_ \- and people watching.

"Here's one for you, Simmie" Jasmine motioned to her sister. Simoene set down her tea and moved to join her at the window.

"Which one?"

"The shepherd with all his baggage. Two bits says he gets robbed before he finds a berth."

Simoene studied the grey haired man for a few moments, with his collar and clerical garb. She saw him look at the transport and cargo ships with a dreamy, yet steely look in his eye.

"I dunno, I think there's more to him that you think." She turned to Jasmine. "You're on."

The two sisters made the motion of a hand spit - _minus the actual spitting part _\- and shook on it. Then they settled into leaning on the window sill to watch the show.

Jasmine chuckled gleefully when the errand boy from _Brutus_ pestered the shepherd, but was secretly relieved when the exchange ended. When he next spoke with the pretty girl at the Firefly transport, Simoene commented at length about the girl's jacket. She was as animated about the jacket as the girl was by the contents of the one of the shepherd's small brown boxes.

"I used to have a jacket like that. Mine was jade, with those little rose colored flowers on it. Do you remember that jacket, Jaz?"

"You never had a jacket like that, Simmie. We sold jackets like that, your husband didn't like you in green."

"No, I had a jacket like that. I kept one. It had a small tear in the embroidery near the collar, but was otherwise just as shiny as that girl's jacket."

The sisters watched as an odd assortment of passengers boarded the Firefly and a blonde man hauled in cargo. Three people showed up, a woman and two men. The sisters watched as the pretty girl in the shiny jacket introduced one of the men, the one who seemed to be in charge, to a fancy looking passenger.

"He sure don't look none to happy 'bout taking on Mr. Fancy Pants, does he?"

"Either that or he's sizing the poor boy up. Doesn't he look like he's deciding on a bunkmate?"

"Well, you might be right. I hear it gets awfully lonely out there in the black and men are known to do things they don't want to talk about. And he sure didn't seem too interested in your pretty girl with the jacket."

The sisters chuckled at their own raunchy behavior. Then a shuttle docked and a few moments later, the ship rose into the sky and left the port.

The heat of the day began to worsen and the sisters moved from the window back into the coolness of the room. "So, what do you think the shepherd had in that box?"

They spent the remainder of the evening weaving enjoyable tales to amuse themselves about the characters they had just observed.

 

****end****


End file.
